


The Midnight Raid

by dlouc



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, Minor Character Death, Resistance, Serious Injuries, WWII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-28 22:18:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3871795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dlouc/pseuds/dlouc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dark secrets are brought to light following a devastating S.S. raid that nearly claims Morgana's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Midnight Raid

With the door bolted and a chair wedged under the door knob, Arthur sat on his bedroom floor and waited as the morning light slowly crept forwards him from the window. He knew it was only a matter of time before he was dragged out of hiding and made to face his father. He couldn’t hide in his room forever.

As much as he was dreading the inevitable meeting with his father, it was nothing compared to the helplessness he felt. He was stuck in his room while Merlin was out there, alone. All Arthur could think about was Merlin’s face, beaten and bloody, his frail, trembling body, his parting words.

“When I’m gone”

He knew Merlin was right. He was going to die, and there was nothing Arthur could do about it. Merlin was going to die, and Arthur had no idea how to live without him.

For all he knew, Merlin might already be dead. The seriousness of what had happened last night was not lost on Arthur. He wasn’t naive anymore. Merlin’s body could already be rotting in some pit somewhere, or be nothing more than ashes in the wind.

There was a loud knock on the door. Arthur froze.

“Arthur.” a voice called through the door. “Commander Pendragon requests your presence in his office.”

For a moment, Arthur considered staying silent. Maybe the voice would just leave, or maybe Arthur could slip out the window.

Instead, he removed the chair and unlocked the door. He wasn’t going to be a coward. In the hall, he was coldly greeted by one of the countless soldiers who worker for Father, then lead down the stairs to Father’s office. Arthur felt life he was being led to his execution.

The office door opened with a creek, and Arthur was led inside. It was the first time he had been allowed in the mysterious room. So many hours Arthur had spent imagining what this room would be like, and now he just wanted to get as far away as possible. Morgana was already there, standing quietly with her arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes were tearing up. Arthur had never seen her seem so small. He could hardly recognize her.

Then there was father, standing behind his desk, silently glaring at them.

“Arthur, Morgana…” he said calmly, slowly walking around his desk until he stood directly in front of them. “Have you any idea what you’ve done?”

Arthur and Morgana remained silent, hardly daring to breathe.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Father screamed.

“We didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.” Morgana whispered. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. At first, Arthur thought she was scared, but it became clear that she wasn’t avoiding father’s gaze. She was looking around the office at the bookshelves and filing cabinets that lined the walls, as if looking for something.

Father ignored Morgana and turned to Arthur.

“You.” he spat. “You tried to save that Jew.”

“It was my fault.” Morgana cut in quickly.” He was just helping me. I can’t stand seeing blood and…”

She was cut off by a hard slap across her face from Father. For a split second, Arthur saw an unmistakable fire in her eyes. She was furious, and Morgana’s rage was unlike any other. Arthur had learned to never get in her way when she was in this state, (and god bless the poor soul that angered her).

Just as soon as it came, the rage disappeared, and she turned back to father with a weak, pitiful look in her eyes.

Father’s anger seemed to dissipate as well.

“You have a soft heart, Morgana.” Father said. His voice was calmer, but he sounded disgusted. “It is only to be expected of a woman.”

Morgana nodded, staring firmly at the ground. She seemed to be struggling to stop herself from hitting father back, especially after the last comment.

“You may go.” Father muttered. Morgana gave a quick, concerned glance to Arthur, but reluctantly turned to leave. Father was not suggesting that she leave, he was ordering her from the room.

The office door closed, leaving Arthur alone with his father. He tensed, waiting to be yelled at, or hit, or something, but Father stood completely still and utterly silent.

“I suppose this is my fault.” Father finally whispered.

Arthur was stunned.

“You’ve had no structure, not discipline.” he continued. “Most young men have the Hitler Youth, or training. You’ve had nothing.”

“I have school.” Arthur pointed out, somewhat defensively.

“You are almost 17, Arthur. In a few months, you’ll be able to join the S.S., yet you’ve had no preparation.” Father said, pausing for a moment as if trying to decide something. “You will accompany me to Auschwitz, starting next week. You’ll need to learn about the operations that take place there.”

Arthur’s heart fell, but he somehow hid his dread and plastered a fake smile on his face.

“Thank you, sir.” he muttered through clenched teeth.

“You may go.”

“Yes sir.” He whispered, then left the room.

The moment he stepped foot into the hallway, Arthur could feel his facade crumble away. He thought he might cry, or collapse. The thought of joining the S.S. was almost too much to bear. But he didn’t have time to freak out. He had to find Merlin first. He had to know that he was alive.

He turned to the kitchen and was almost out of the hall when Morgana stopped him.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“Out.” Arthur muttered, pushing past her.

“Arthur wait.” She called, but he ignored her, stepping into the back garden.

He barely took a step before he was thrown against the wall.

“I know you are going to see that boy.” Morgana said.

“Let go.” Arthur demanded.

“No. You can’t go.”

“Let go!” Arthur yelled, trying to pull away, but Morgana wouldn’t loosen her grip on him. When did she get so strong?

“You can’t see him anymore.”

“What do you even care?”

“He’s a jew.” Morgana spat. “It’s not right.”

“The hell do you mean it’s not right!?”

“Arthur.” Morgana sighed, acting as if Arthur was too stupid to understand anything. She sounded strange though, not quite like herself. Almost like the words were painful to say. “You’re German. Aryan. You are better than this. Than him.”

Arthur shoved Morgana away, and this time she fell back.

“How can you say that?!” Arthur screamed. “You saved him!”

“I did that for you Arthur!” Morgana yelled back. “I was saving you. You were going to get yourself killed.”

“No! You saved him...”

“For you! I don’t care about him! He’s just a jew, Arthur!”

“You’re lying. I know you don’t believe everything Father says about jews and…”

“Shut up, Arthur! Father is right and it’s about damn time you start listening to him!”

“That’s bullshit. You’re lying.”

“You can’t see the boy anymore.” Morgana said calming, blocking Arthur’s way to the shed. He was about the push past her again when they were interrupted.

“Everything okay over here?” Fritz asked from the kitchen.

“It’s fine. Arthur was just going inside.” Morgana said.

Arthur wasn’t stupid enough to go to the woods now. He had no choice but to go back inside.

“Go to hell, Morgana.” He muttered, pushing past Fritz. He marched straight back to his room and locked the door again. He just wanted to shut everything out.

 

*  *  *  *

Several days flew by in a blur. Arthur rarely left his room, and spent most of his time lying on his floor and thinking. What if Morgana wasn’t lying? What if he really was alone in this fight? Nothing made any sense. Morgana didn’t make any sense.

Then there was Merlin. He was all Arthur could think about. Not knowing if he was alive was the worst pain Arthur could imagine. He was going insane being alone with his thoughts. Not even sleep provided refuge. Those thoughts would always creep into Arthur’s nightmares on the rare occasions that he slept. He didn’t know how long he could live like this.

*   *   *   *

The night was clear, and eerily quiet. Arthur stood in the woods, shivering in the cool night air. He couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there, but he quickly forgot his confusion when he realized something. He was free. There were faded lights in the distance, the house. It could barely be seen through the darkness. He was free.

Arthur started to run, tearing his way through the woods, not caring how his bare feet were cut up on the forest floor, or how the branches tore at his arms and face. He couldn’t feel the pain. He couldn’t feel anything except joy.

Then Arthur realized he was being followed. Chased. There was a man running after him, getting closer, and closer, and closer. He could recognized the uniform of the man, S.S. He was almost free. Almost free. Run away, faster, faster. Arthur’s foot caught on something and he stumbled over his feet, crashing to the ground. There was a gun to his head, cold metal pressed to his forehead, and the man’s face could finally be seen, illuminated in the pale light of the moon. The face was his own, sneering down at Arthur as he lay helpless on the ground. He pulled the trigger.

Arthur woke with a start, drenched in sweat and a scream in the back of his throat. But he remained silent, just like the night around him.

A loud knocking cut through the silence and Arthur nearly fell out of bed. There was another, not at the door. Then another. A desperate, panicked rattling at the window.

“Arthur!” came a muffled scream.

Arthur rushed to his window to find a figure, cloaked in the night. He pulled back the latch and threw open the window, and Morgana fell onto his floor.

“The front door was locked.” She muttered, her breathing laboured and sporadic.

“Morgana.” Arthur whispered, falling to her side. “What are you… How did you get here? This is the second floor.”

“Climbed.” Morgana mumbled, weakly throwing up her hands as if imitating climbing.

“I was out.” She explained, barely choking the words out. She sounded like she’d been crying.

“What’s wrong?” Arthur asked her, turning his lamp on. He froze as the light finally illuminated his room.

Morgana was a mess. Her dress was torn and bloody, her face and arms bruised. There was a gash just above her forehead, blood dripping down her pale face and matting her hair. There was already a small pool of blood forming around her on the floor.  

“Oh my god.” Arthur whispered. “What happened?”

“I’m fine.” Morgana muttered, pushing herself up to a sitting position.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Stairs.” She mumbled, wincing and she pulled herself to her feet. “I f-fell. Stairs.”

She took a step forward, but her legs gave out and she stumbled. She caught herself on the bed.

“I just… need…” Morgana muttered, wincing with every word. She was barely conscious. “Go...room… my room.”

She tried to take another step, and again her legs gave out, but Arthur grabbed her before she fell.

“You need a doctor.” Arthur insisted.

“N-no! K-kill… kill...me” Morgana choked out, trying to free herself from Arthur’s arms.

“Shhhhh. Ok, no doctor.” Arthur whispered.

“My room…” Morgana mumbled.

“You can stay here tonight.” Arthur said.

Morgana didn’t say another word, but her eyes were still open. Arthur struggled to lift his sister into his bed, but did eventually manage.

“I’m f-fine.” She whispered before losing consciousness.

Arthur sat by her side all night, checking her pulse every other minute and watching to make sure she was breathing. He didn’t know what else to do.

*   *   *   *

“Hey.”

Arthur woke with a start. He was sitting in a chair beside his bed, sunlight streaming in through the window. The morning light was pale, it was still early. Morgana was sitting up in his bed, a soft smile on her face.

“You’re awake!” Arthur exclaimed.

“You weren’t.” Morgana said.

“Sorry.” Arthur mutter.

“I’m kidding. It’s fine.” Morgana whispered. Her voice was still weak, but she didn’t sound like she was in so much pain anymore.

“How are you feeling?” Arthur asked.

“Hungry.”

“I can go grab breakfast, if you want.” He offered.

Morgana nodded.

Arthur pushed himself to his feet and walked to his door, turning to look back at Morgana before leaving.

“Get food.” She said, shooing Arthur away.

“Ok, ok. I’m going.”

The first floor was more crowded than usual, especially at this hour. Arthur pushed past the soldiers that had gathered in the hall and made his way to the kitchen. Walking past the dining room, he could see it was equally crowded, his father standing among several other officers as they dug through piles of documents that had been dumped on the dining room table. Arthur tried to just keep walking, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“Arthur, come here.” His father called. With no other choice, Arthur reluctantly stepped into the dining room and slowly walked to his father’s side.

“What’s all of this” Arthur asked, scanning the documents that had been scattered around the table. Arthur couldn’t read any of them, they weren’t written in German.

“We raided a resistance compound last night and…”

Suddenly, everything clicked. Morgana’s strange behavior, her mysterious friends, her injuries. Arthur stopped listening, turned, and left the room. He ran down the hall and up the stairs bursting into his bedroom.

“You don’t have food.” Morgana pointed out.

“The resistance?!” Arthur yelled. “You’re in the resistance?”

Morgana’s smile disappeared. “Keep your voice down.” She demanded.

“How could you not tell me!? All this time and you didn’t tell me and…”

“Arthur! Shut your mouth! Someone is going to hear!”

“How long?” Arthur asked quietly.

Morgana sighed. “ I joined about a month after we got here.”

“That’s almost two years!”

“I know! I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me!? You knew I didn’t buy into all of father’s racist crap. I thought I was alone. I was going insane! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Because I knew you didn’t buy into all of father’s racist crap. Everyone knows. I was just trying to protect you, Arthur. You wouldn’t last a month in the resistance.”

“You couldn’t at least tell me!? Let me know that I wasn’t alone?”

"Then I wouldn’t have lasted a month.” Morgana muttered. “It’s dangerous. I mean, look at me.”

“And those people, your friends at Christmas… are they?”

“Yeah. They’re a unit of the resistance. We call ourselves the Home Army.”

“Father got a lot of documents from the headquarters.” Arthur said.

“Leon told us the S.S. was coming. We had enough time to hide the important information. Those documents Father got are junk.”

“And, did everyone get away?” Arthur asked.

Morgana fell silent, the hint of a smile disappearing from her face.

“Elena.” She choked out. “They got Elena.”

Arthur sighed, sitting down in the chair beside his bed. “What happened?”

“We could have gotten away, we had enough time. But those documents, we couldn’t let the S.S. get them. We had just stepped into the street when the S.S. arrived. I’m not sure exactly what happened. Everyone ran in different directions, there were bullets flying everywhere. Elena and I were separated from the others. We had almost made it out of town when Elena tripped. She’s always been so clumsy.” Morgana’s voice broke, but after a moment she kept going. “They didn’t even try to arrest her. They just shot her.”

“Your shoulder, you were shot there?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah, my forehead too, but the bullet just grazed the skin.”

“That’s lucky.”

“Yeah, lucky.” Morgana muttered bitterly. 


End file.
